Getting to know Nick Sloman

Nick Sloman is an Open Water swimmer who trains with Melbourne Vicentre at MSAC. Originally hailing from Noosa, Nick has recently moved to Melbourne to pursue his goals, and will represent Australia at the World Championships in Singapore in July, 2025.

Congratulations on making the Australian team for Singapore. What was the feeling like when you knew that you’d qualified?

It’s been a long time that I’ve been on the Australian team, this is my fifth World Championship, so, to do it again, it’s a special feeling. I love representing Australia, it’s always been my dream.

You recently made the move from Sunny Coast to Melbourne. How have you found that change, both weatherwise, we’re in the middle of Melbourne winter at the moment, how are those early morning sessions?

Training wise, it’s just pretty much the same. The weather though, it’s a little bit to get used to. You know, I sometimes miss being in the warmer climates, so I’m actually looking forward to going to Singapore and getting a little bit the heat. But apart from that it’s been pretty good. I moved down here to follow my girlfriend and [find] balance outside of swimming.

It sounds like you’ve found a nice work-life balance at the moment?

Yeah, exactly. I’m a human first, athlete second, so I’ve really found that balance has worked really well for me, and it’s probably made me swim as good as I am at the moment.

You started out surf lifesaving and then got into open water swimming. How did that how did that transition come around for you?

Initially I started swimming in the pool, I swam in the pool until I was aged 12 [and] didn’t really enjoy it, didn’t find that connection. Obviously, being on the coast, I grew up close to the beach, so that connection between pools and surf was really close. And then I just kind of progressed from there. I saw people traveling the world, racing overseas, and I wanted a little bit of that. Open water was kind of that halfway point that pool life and surf lifesaving, so that’s how I got into it.

And how do you train for an open water swim, the ocean here in Melbourne maybe isn’t quite what it might be in certain other areas, but how do you train for that in the pool here at MSAC?

Majority of training is done in the pool. Even when I was up on the Sunshine Coast, I would say 95% of it’s done in the pool, and then anything else is either done in the ocean or in flumes or something like that. I’m quite fortunate that people overseas are also dealing with the cold water. It’s a pretty strong scene over in Europe and Germany, and they also have to wear wetsuits, so it’s not much different.

And you get to train here at MSAC which is a world class Olympic facility. How do you find the facilities here that can help you prepare for the best?

The facilities are amazing. I grew up training out of the council pools, so this is a huge step up. And you’ve got state of the art coaches, support staff and it makes such a huge difference.

Have you got any advice for some young kids who might want to follow in your footsteps of becoming an open water swimmer, or even just a professional swimmer?

I guess, follow your heart. I think the biggest thing for me is taking some risks, especially over the past six months, that probably weren’t for performance gain, but certainly for my mental health and my life outside of swimming.

Nick trains with Melbourne Vicentre at Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre. Any athletes wanting more information on joining the competitive squad program at MSAC can email an enquiry to info@vicentre.org.au